Microsoft hires ex-OpenAI leaders Sam Altman, Greg Brockman

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella today confirmed that former OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and former OpenAI President Greg Brockman will be joining Microsoft to lead a new advanced AI research team. “…we’re extremely excited to share the news that Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, together with colleagues, will be joining Microsoft to lead a new advanced AI research team,” Nadella wrote in a post on Twitter.

In the same post, Nadella also confirmed Emmett Shear‘s appointment as the new OpenAI CEO. “We look forward to getting to know Emmett Shear and OAI’s new leadership team and working with them,” he added.

We remain committed to our partnership with OpenAI and have confidence in our product roadmap, our ability to continue to innovate with everything we announced at Microsoft Ignite, and in continuing to support our customers and partners. We look forward to getting to know Emmett…

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Who is Mira Murati? OpenAI's new CEO who's worked with Elon Musk before

— Satya Nadella (@satyanadella) November 20, 2023

Interestingly, the news of Altman joining Microsoft comes just hours after OpenAI’s board reportedly failed to negotiate a deal to bring him back as the OpenAI CEO which led to former Twitch CEO and co-founder Emmett Shear being named as interim CEO of the company. Shear will take over from Mira Murati, who was named interim OpenAI CEO following Altman’s shock ouster on Friday.

Murati’s dismissal came on the ground that she invited Altman to meet with OpenAI’s executives at the company’s San Francisco headquarters on Sunday shortly after her appointment.

Who is Emmett Shear?

For the unversed, Emmett Shear is the co-founder of Justin.tv that enable users to publish a live video-stream. The platform, however, shutdown in August 2014. He founded Twitch in June 2011 as a spin-off of Justin.tv’s gaming content. The beta version of the site launched in June 2011 before it was acquired by Amazon on August 25, 2014, at a price of $970,000,00. He was Twitch’s CEO until March of this year. Post

Shear joined Y Combinator as a part-time partner in June 2011, where he offers advice to the new startups in each batch. He was included on Forbes Magazine’s 30 Under 30 list in 2012.

Shear joined Y Combinator as a part-time partner in June 2011, where he offers advice to the new startups in each batch. He was included on Forbes Magazine’s 30 Under 30 list in 2012. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from Yale University.